Big news!

It has been a long time since I updated this. Lots has happened and I'll start with the annual Williams Family Reunion at Bear Lake, Idaho. It used to be at Bear Lake, Ut but they moved to the north side of the lake last year and the new campground is more grassy and less dirt-y. Clyde and Sandy brought us the new tent trailer to try it out and Dustin was completely sold. Its really nice and Clyde equipped it with a port-a-potty and some newer hoses so we had some running water. I've always been a tent camper so a trailer is a nice luxury. Alex liked the convenience of having an icebox and a bathroom along with the running water. I liked having a place thats not so hot for an afternoon nap.

The Saturday night skits were hilarious as always. Alex treated everyone to some dancing and some of Dustin's uncles did a great impression of ABBA.

The Ford handled the towing of the trailer admirably and we didn't really notice it was back there. Made for some interesting u-turns when we stopped for multiple bathroom breaks but no damage was done. Just exciting times.

Alex has started swimming lessons and might have his very first sunburn. He looked a little red tonight when he usually just turns brown. And gets platinum blonde hair to show off his blue eyes. He really looks like a surfer.

Now for the big news. We feel pretty good about sharing this but we'd also appreciate any prayers that things will be ok. We found out about 6 weeks ago that Alex is getting a little brother or sister in late January! Official due date is 2/4/10 but I'll be a repeat c-section so it will make its appearance about January 20th or so. There have been a few complications but we've been feeling very positive about everything so we decided it was ok to share here.

I won't be posting a belly shot any time soon since I seem to have grown much larger than I think 10 weeks should be but as soon as I feel like my stomach matches my week a little closer, I'll put one up. The one from 9weeks 3 days is just depressing. LOL!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Alex had his first sleepover about two weeks ago. A little boy down the street form my parents house who I've known for 4 years now. Apparently it was his first sleepover too as his mom very very excited to drop him off.

Or maybe they were looking forward to a quiet evening, oldest child-free? Who knows.

The evening started with making english muffin pizza. I pre-cooked some Italian sausage for Dustin, grated some cheese and had a bowl of sauce on the counter for everyone to put on their muffin. Then, the idea that maybe giving 6 and 7 year old boys free reign over the pizza sauce distribution wouldn't be such a great idea, I proceeded to sauce and cheese the muffins myself and let them put on their toppings. They looked like this:
Very yummy and tasty. A great way to satisfy the unending appetites of growing boys.

After dinner, they went to play in Alex's room only for us to find various signs posted around the house.
And then they paraded around the house in a harmonica parade.

The sign on the front of the friend's shirt? It says 'Join the Buterfie Team'. I'm raising a macho son who chooses the name of his harmonica parade to be the Butterfly Team.

Darn right.

After that weekend, Dustin was able to get his Christmas present a little late.

See how delighted he is with his new HD radio component? Too bad it broke and we had to take it back a week later. But we did get an even better one that can go into the office and has a dvd player and a ipod dock. YAY!

Alex got a fish from his grandpa. He wanted to name it galoompf but I talked him into something easier. Meet Pip
So, it was a great holiday season and I'm glad my decorations are down and my living room is back to normal. If only it would warm up, just a bit. I'm shivering here!

Oh yeah...I promised

Here's Alex's back to school picture. Such a cute first grader!

Let's ignore the bug spray thats easily within reach of little hands and the cluttered pass-through to the kitchen...

Who, What, When, Where?

I was reading Becky's blog yesterday and decided to check out what the 20 comments could possibly be on. I won't touch the political stuff cause I don't want an angry mob of comments to drown my little site. What I did notice was a familiar name. I wasn't sure if it was the name of a cousin of ours that I didn't know had a blog or if it was someone else. A quick cursor over the highlighted name revealed it to be Kristina whom I know from another internet forum.

Which got me thinking (dangerous, I know. The world might explode!) how she knew my cousin. I check of her BFF blogroll lead me to a different cousin's website. But, I didn't see Becky's on there. Its a mystery to me.

Not such a big mystery that I'll actually e-mail Kristina and ask how she found my cousin's blog but enough to give us our first post of September. Yeah, I'm lazy and hoping she'll post a comment and answer the buring question.

Wait! September means back-to-school! Maybe I'll find my camera and post Alex's first day of First Grade. I think its buried under our towering pile of Ensigns that we can't bring ourselves to throw away even though they are available online. It seems like a trip straight to the dark, fiery pits of the Underworld and I try to avoid the space under our bed. Its scary.

Rock band

Dustin bought Rock Band a few weeks ago when it was on sale for the PS2. Since then, we've played almost every night and even got my older sister to sing. Alex has decided that he is a drummer.

He likes the Rolling Stones and Bon Jovi and can make it through a whole song by himself on easy level.

I'm so proud!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

As some of you have already heard, Dustin and I will be welcoming a new baby next year! Due sometime in March is what we are thinking but my doctor won't see me until I'm 8 weeks to give a dating ultrasound. I've added a ticker with a generic date that I'll change when I find out the actual due date. Not that due dates mean a whole lot more than "Well, there's the chance you'll have your baby within a week of this date but...don't hold your breathe!"

Oh and we're not telling Alex yet. I can't handle nine months of "Is the baby coming today?" "No not until March." "Is it March yet?" He'll find out probably around the time of the gender ultrasound.

In other news, Alex has another loose tooth! And his adult tooth is starting to poke through into the empty void from the first tooth loss. He spent all of sacrament meeting looking in my compact mirror so he could see it and feel like he's finally growing up. In the meantime, he's already growing out of the size 6 jeans I bought this spring in the hopes they would last until school. How foolish I was!

The weekend at Bear Lake was wonderful! Good times were had by all and I even got Alex to ride a tube behind the boat. He told everyone else he didn't like it but told me he thought it was fun. I'm not sure who he was lying to. No sunburns this year! YAY!!!!! Thats quite the accomplishment for me. Dustin doesn't seem to burn at all and Alex only tans no matter how long he's in the sun. I'm apparently the only vampire in this family. It was great to see everyone and Dustin is very excited about Scout camp in August. It happens to fall on the same weekend my family leaves for an Alaskan cruise (including Alex). Do you know what this means?!

A whole weekend all by myself!! Let's hear it for hogging the bed and sleeping in! No 6 year old to come in and 7 am on Saturday and ask if he can play his nintendo DS. Ohhhhh the luxury!

See, good news all around!

Tooth Fairy

Alex lost his first tooth tonight. Well, he didn't so much as lose it as I yanked it out after listening to him complain about how much it hurt to eat the grilled sandwiches and tomato soup I made for dinner.

It had been a little wiggly for months but it decided today was the day it was going to make a break for it and go all out. It wiggled and giggled for a few hours until we had dinner and then I promised Alex a fudgcicle if he'd let me pull it out.

A few harder wiggles, a few little pulls and out it came! We put it into a small bowl to be rinsed off and he spent the next ten minutes asking how much the tooth fairy will give him for it. I told him fifty cents for a front tooth was about right. He wanted fifty dollars to get a new Wii game. That's grandpa's territory.

All night he did that thing with the tongue when you've lost a tooth...carefully exploring the open territory and tasting the tangy hint of blood on the hole. I asked if he was the last kid in his kindergarten class to lose a tooth and he immediately said yes. Just in time for his friend's birthday party on Saturday! A brand new hole to show off...what every kid wants!

Going Godfather

We aren't moving after all. Dustin was offered a position with his previous airline that he couldn't refuse so we are staying in Las Vegas for the time being. Grandpa said it was the best birthday present we could have given him. Apparently the only ones excited for us to move was...us.

He starts again this week with some re-training but will be flying most likely by next week. He's much more relaxed and things have been great since we made the decision to return to Grand Canyon Airlines in Boulder City, NV. I'm just happy that he's happy.

We spent last weekend in Brigham City for Clyde's birthday. A great time was had by all at the luau Sandy planned and Alex kept everyone entertained with his request to "Pause the party, I have to go potty!"

Mothers' Day was very nice. I was able to spend it with Dustin and Alex as we drove back to Las Vegas and Dustin gave me some great dvds. Alex gave me some bath salts he made in school that I think got too much fragrance. They are in his bathroom now.

The school semester is almost over and that leaves me with only one class to go until I get my associate of arts. Its about stinkin' time! I've been working on it for a few years alternating between part and full-time while working and I'm thankful to almost be done.

Hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon. That part of the blog is pretty sad right now.

Suddenly Its Spring

Spring Break is next week. I never really did anything during Spring Break when I was younger. Slept all day and watched tv for the most part. It was like a long weekend that always had a major class project due the Monday you came back to school. At least one. Sometimes two or three. It wasn't a big deal to have a week of school off.

Now, in the land of Goverment Holidays, I always try to take a few days off work for Spring Break. This is the first year Alex is in a school that has it. The private pre-school he was in last year didn't have one and the private sitter the year before that certainly didn't. Her oldest was only 9 months older than Alex.

Back to work. I get 12 paid holidays a year. New Years Day, President's Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day, Nevada Day, Thanksgiving weekend, Veteran's Day and Christmas. You math people probably count that and say "Hey, you liar! That's only 11!" I get a floating day for my birthday that I can take whenever I want after my birthday. Thats how I was able to go to my good friend's wedding on a Friday (love you Kylene!).

Notice how there is nothing from mid-February to the end of May? That's a long time to be at work without a break. Three and a half months! How can anyone be expected to work for almost 4 months STRAIGHT without some kind of paid holiday?! So, I'm taking part of Spring Break off. Just a few days with Alex next week. It will be my first paid vacation time since I started at this job. Just in time for the nice weather in Las Vegas where we can wear shorts and not shiver with cold wind.

And I have two projects due the Monday after Spring Break. Good to know some things don't change.